Iggy: What No One Knows
by 18wanda
Summary: Iggy has secretly wanted his sight back for many long years, and finally when he has the chance to get it back, he might do anything for that chance. Even betray the flock and himself. Iggy has even found love, but what is most imporant to him in the end?
1. Chapter 1: Morning Madness

Iggy: What No One Knows

Another morning. Another day of darkness for Iggy. He opened his sightless eyes to the bright orange glow that appeared when he looked at something bright and knew he slept in.

_Step out to the left. Seven steps then open the door, and take twelve steps down the hall to the staircase._

Iggy followed his mind map and made it down the stairs. From here the way was a little fuzzy since the kitchen really wasn't the most organized place in the house. He listened to the usual clutter and chaos of morning happening in the kitchen. Iggy heard a chair scoot across the floor, meaning someone was either sitting at the table or leaving it. Probably not leaving since they usually relied on him to cook anyway. Then Iggy focused on the sound of the cabinet opening while across the table Angel yawned sleepily.

"Morning, Ig," Max greeted me.

Iggy flinched back with surprise, completely unaware of Max's presence. "Finally out of my cave," he grumbled and went to the table, on the way tripping on Magnolia, Ella's dog that just didn't have the sense to move out of the blind kid's way.

"Can you make us some grub already before we keel over? We have been waiting forever," Nudge asked in her pleasant Nudge way.

_Sitting at the table diagonal from me near the end_, Iggy noted before answering. "You want them burnt coals or golden brown?"

"Golden brown, please," Total said from beneath the table.

Iggy could hear footsteps ahead and sidestepped around Max who was getting some cereal to calm the ravenous wolves at the table until he could make them some golden brown pancakes on the skillet. He reached his hand out and felt around to the dials on the stove, feeling them carefully before turning the burner on to the right temperature.

What Iggy really enjoyed about cooking was how important it made him feel, knowing he was the only one in the flock who could make decent eggs and bacon without setting off the fire alarm. Being blind, he was considered weak by anyone who didn't know him, and it was infuriating. Seeing, like you really need that anyway.

_Crud. Forgot the pancake mix._ Iggy abandoned the skillet and went to the pantry, opening it up to a wall of vast darkness just like everything else. Where was that again? If he remembered correctly Max liked putting that back on the top shelf. He felt around, found a cardboard box, another one, another one…_but which one is the pancake mix?_

Ask for help. Forget it. Asking to hold someone else's hand to find pancake mix in the pantry? Yeah right. Iggy shook the contents until he found one that sounded light and powdery. He opened the box a bit and sniffed inside, and confirming that it was pancake mix, waled back over to the skillet to start the pancakes.

Even Ella was home today, and she talked to Max earnestly at the table, making Iggy turn around to calculate her position in the room. He didn't even know she was here with all the chatter going on, he couldn't hear a rocket launch from outside the kitchen window.

_Another chair moved, someone else got up to get Magnolia off the table. _Iggy couldn't keep track of it all because no one would hold still! He wanted to punch a loaf of bread in his frustration. He discovered recently that soft loaves of bread make good punching bags without bruising his hands, although it could lead to squished sandwiches.

About seven or eight minutes passed and Iggy pushed the pancake onto a plate, and started on the next one.

Ella came up behind him and dressed up the pancakes with syrup. By the sound of the syrup oozing out of the bottle Iggy assumed a lot. "You are a great cook, Iggy. I will make the bacon. You go sit down."

Iggy liked Ella. She was nice and didn't seem to be treating him any lesser than the other flock members. He was clenching and unclenching his fists, and was about to go to the table when he froze. "You think I can't handle cooking food for you savages? I can't handle putting bacon in the freaking microwave?" He didn't even realize that his voice rose and the kitchen fell silent, and Iggy could picture the rest of the flock looking at him.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that," Ella said apologetically, automatically making Iggy feel hot and ashamed with guilt. "I just thought you might want to eat your pancake before it gets cold."

"Okay," he muttered and stood there for a split second, remembering which chairs were occupied before settling for the one on the end.

"Yes! I'm starving!" Max exclaimed and helped Ella pass everyone their pancake.

_Clank! Clank! Clank!_ Plates hit table and Iggy heard the more tinkly clanking of forks and such. Well, the flock didn't really use forks each morning, but somehow they still wound up on the table each morning. Normally morning the time to shove pancake into your mouth with your hands, and dip it in syrup like chips and dip since Dr. Martinez(who by the way the flock was temporarily staying with) was at work and rules didn't apply.

Iggy thought he did a good job with the pancake. It was a dried out crisp wad, and he could detect a gross black color on the pancake, just the way he liked it. With instant bacon, it definitely helped relieve his stress.

That was before Total made some doggy gagging noises. "Yuck! You call that golden brown? Seriously, can't you see when the pancakes are done?"

So much more bliss. "No, as a matter of fact I cannot see when the pancake is done. In fact, I can't even see what anything is. I can't see what the heck you look like, or when the stupid dog is in my way! I am blind! I can't see ANYTHING!"

Silence. Nothing but silence.

"Iggy, we understand-"

He was on a roll now and continued. "No, you don't understand. None of you do. None of you know what it is like to wake up to darkness all the time, and wake up to falling flat over dogs, and making pancakes too done. I'm outta here."

Iggy jolted the whole table getting up, and he heard something like the breaking of glass and orange juice dripping off the table.

_Where did it hit? I should probably help pick that up! Yeah, that's right! You don't know where it is because you can't do anything right! _It was just too much.

Iggy climbed up the stairs and plopped on the floor to his room like a stone. That's right, the floor. At least he could still feel a few vibrations of what was happening downstairs, and hear some voices. Yes, silence at last.

He stretched out his wings across the floor. They were a creamy gray, at least that is what he felt when he touched them. It is not like he could see them as being gray.

_Right. Back to thinking about life. _ Iggy thought about what happened that morning, looking out into the darkness of his vision for answers to why he felt so…mad? About what? Sad maybe? Confused? What exactly was the problem here? He laid there, thinking about this, and it took him awhile to reach the conclusion he had been trying to hide from the flock as well as himself.

_I am blind. _Yes, that was it. The thought made him feel all those feelings combined into one big blah. No matter what he did, hearing, sensing, feeling, it didn't replace his eyesight; the key to seeing the world as it really was. Everyone else could see, and he would be able too if the freaking whitecoats wouldn't have toyed with his eyesight. Who even cared if a genetic experiment lost its eyesight when we could just record its actions stumbling blindly around anyway?

The thought was disturbing. Iggy turned over. He was vulnerable, the deadweight, the one who had to cling onto someone else, and who had to blindly lash out at erasers and hope he hit something. He didn't feel secure. That was the problem he suspected. He wanted to see the world, and be useful. What use was cooking as a special skill anyway when instant bacon was invented? Nothing.

_I should just get out of here and stop burdening the rest of the flock with my presence._ _I am useless._

Feeling his eyes get moist, he curled himself in his wings to shield him from the world he could never escape from when the tip of Iggy's wing touched something on the floor. He reached out and grabbed it. It was a cube, and it was hard, and the pieces turned. Iggy moved the Rubix cube in his hand and turned the pieces, feeling them with his fingertips to see which sides to move. Set forth with this new challenge, he set aside the fact that he was a blind mutant avian freak and played with the toy. It took him a long time to feel where all the colors were, but that made it even more entertaining to remember where they all were.

After many long minutes Iggy felt all the sides of the cube, feeling five perfect sides. The sixth one was all mixed up and he sighed, tossing it across the floor carelessly. Out of six one side didn't belong. In the flock one bird-kid didn't belong either.

Iggy didn't feel any better about himself after laying there in Zen mode, but it was another day, and it was time to get up and face it. He decided it would be best to go downstairs and help clean up a little, but by the time he got there everything was silent. He heard nothing, and wandered around downstairs for any traces of life.

_Oh no. Not M-Geeks when I wasn't even here! _Iggy was about to break out in panic attack mode when he heard the unmistakable sound of Angel laughing coming from outside. The rest of the flock was out there too, probably playing under the beautiful green-leaved summer trees, maybe even admiring their beauty. Iggy never officially saw a tree, except something brown and green that felt hard and soft at the same time. What did a tree look like anyway?

There wasn't much out there to offer Iggy, so he grabbed hold of the pancake mix and placed it back on the top shelf before starting on the rest of the kitchen.


	2. Chapter 2: Flying Blind

Iggy: What No One Knows

Chapter 2: Flying Blind

By the time the flock had finished playing outside Iggy was done with the kitchen, and they returned to a tidy kitchen, but no Iggy.

"I feel bad fore Iggy," Ella said. "He seemed kind of upset. Why?"

_The usual_, Iggy answered silently from where he was listening from. He was downstairs in the living room, standing in the doorway that led to the basement.

"Maybe you should talk to him and find out what the problem is," Total suggested.

Right. Of the flock the dog was the sensitive one. That made sense, right?

Iggy heard the heavy and confident footsteps of Max walking around the house, no doubt hunting for him as the target. Max was going up the stairs. And what would he say if she found him? Oh, I am just weak and pathetic and be reassured by lies? He sidestepped around the furniture and ventured over to the screen door carefully, making sure not to dislodge anything on the floor that would acknowledge his presence.

The sounds of six pairs feet moving along and the clicking of Total's nails clicking on the wooden kitchen floor told Iggy that the flock moved on down the hall out of the kitchen…to the living room. He hurriedly slipped out of sight through a different doorway that led to the kitchen from the eastern side, and silently slipped out the door outside before Angel could detect his thoughts.

_Screen door, tree to the left of the driveway about six steps from the house._ Iggy opened up his mind map of the yard and went across the lawn, being careful to avoid the flowerbed at step eighteen to spare the marigolds. He then expanded his fourteen foot wings and after doing a 360 ad hearing no one else around, he launched himself up in the sky.

The sky is the best place to be for a blind bird kid. Up here Iggy didn't have to worry about bumping into anything or memorizing where everything was. The air was so free. He wasn't exactly sure how high he went up but by the sounds of traffic below getting steadily quieter he assumed pretty far.

Where to go? Flying alone has never occurred to him before, and he wasn't exactly sure which way anything was. He spiraled around in a circle until the bright orange blob of sunlight appeared and he determined what was east and what was west, but from there he was at a loss.

_This is pointless. You don't even know where you are going? Just turn around and head back since you are clearly unable to fly without a babysitter_, Iggy thought bitterly and was about to angle back down before he forgot where Ella's house was until determination replaced the desirable opportunity to give up. Like he couldn't do it? Was that it? _Get moving!_

Iggy flew even higher and headed off in an unknown direction before he could change his mind. He was not going to admit defeat just because he couldn't see.

Flying for hours on end was relaxing no doubt, and he circled around in the air, feeling the pleasures of flying and feeling the freedom of not bumping into things. He wasn't exactly sure how far he had gone before he decided to head back. It was quiet below and he wondered if he was over a forest of some sort. Oh well.

Iggy could remember the way back exceptionally well, and a silent alarm in his head told him exactly which way to go to get back. So, he went back. After all, the rest of the flock was probably wondering where he was. Even leaving them for this long to worry made him feel the slightest bit guilty.

There was a town below. There were a lot of car sounds, and other noise, and Iggy flew down a little lower, trying to think of what to do. This was the place, but where on earth was Ella's house? Crap, where was it?

Iggy circled like a vulture, trying to think of what to do with no success. Even if there was a sign as big as life that read, "HERE IT IS! YOU CAN'T MISS IT!" Iggy would still fly over it like a clueless dingbat. Up in the air it was impossible so he listened for a quiet place and landed there.

Hmm…grass underfoot, trees…this could be someone's yard. Iggy walked around until he stubbed his foot on something wooden and higher elevated than the grass. He felt it and found out it was a stair and there were a couple more that led to a front porch. Yep, he was in someone's yard no doubt.

Get out of here before anyone spots you and calls the cops, he thought and stepped back from the porch. He walked straight ahead until he felt something tall, wooden and hard that enclosed the property.

Oh no.

Iggy froze when there came the sound of the screen door opening and footsteps on the porch. He stopped moving, being as still as the fence as he waited, hoping they would go back in already.

"Hey you! What on earth?"

Iggy had been spotted. What other reason would there be for someone to shout that? He bolted from the fence, running along in the unfamiliar yard for a gate to escape from. If worse came to worse he would have no choice than to fly away.

"Stop!" the voice shouted which only made the blind mole flee faster.

It would have worked, but suddenly Iggy kicked something hard, and fell flat like he was hit by a truck. He didn't even sense it in time before he was lying in the dirt. He felt it and realized it was a…mole hole? _I tripped over a freaking mole hole?_

The footsteps of pursuit getting louder by the second wasn't a good sign and he peeled himself off the ground and continued running, but he only got a few steps before he collided with a tree. _Ow! Ow! I'm such an idiot! Grr…_ He sagged against the tree, still seeing stars from the impact, but was instantly alert when something grabbed him by the shoulder. He leaped back and struggled like a cat on a leash, but for some reason this grip wouldn't let go.

"Grr…Let go of me!" Iggy roared with fury, infuriated he couldn't break loose.

"Shh…Calm down. Stop struggling," the voice said, a female voice of some sort.

Iggy did that, feeling exhausted. She didn't sound like an eraser, or a robot or whatever else dangerous he had learned to expect over the years. Automatically, he folded his wings extra tight, hoping she didn't notice anything lumpy and feathery protruding from his back.

"What are you doing here? Are you okay? You hit that tree pretty hard." She then gasped. "You're blind!"

"Tell me something I don't know," Iggy muttered, and felt her eyes staring back at his pale blue broken eyes that couldn't return the gesture. "I am trying to get back home. The name's…Jeff."

"I'm Rachel," she said. "Where do you live? I have never seen you before? I can't say you have either really."

"Where am I?"

"Winchester Street."

Drat. That didn't sound close to Ella's house at all. This was just _fabulous. _"I have to get going now," Iggy said and slid out of her grip, and out from under the tree.

"But you can't even see. How will you get there?"

Rachel seemed trustable, but that would mean swallowing the last scrap of dignity Iggy had left to accept help from her. That was worth keeping, right? Well, it would be if he had any confidence that he would return to Ella's house without repeating this incident a few hundred more times.

"Don't go off into traffic alone. How about I drive you there? Do you know where to go?" Rachel offered. "I just completed driving school so I could always give you a lift."

_Say no. Reject it_. "Yes, that would be great. That is a very kind offer," Iggy finally said, ripping up the last of his pride and stomping on it after letting it burn on a bonfire.

"Great. I am glad I can help," Rachel replied, sounding cheerful. "Jump in my car."

Iggy followed the sounds of her footsteps back to the driveway. Rachel put the key in the slot and unlocked the car, and it roared to life willingly. He hesitated slightly, feeling the white Ford carefully before climbing inside, but not without locating all the doors and the window slots. He leaned as close as he could away from Rachel to the window, opening it so he wouldn't be deaf to the world outside.

"It is Parr Road, the fourth one down the row. White house, and a flowerbed full of yellow marigolds," Iggy described.

"You are pretty observant? How do you know what color the flowers are?" Rachel asked, taking Iggy completely by surprise.

"I just know is all," he said hurriedly and pretended to be intent on looking out the window, hoping this car ride would end already.

"What color is my car?"

Iggy stopped himself from saying white just in time. "It's…red?"

Rachel turned to the right after stopping briefly at a stop sign, and Iggy gripped the side of the seat. "Okay, just wondering."

After a few more turns Iggy heard the sound of kids playing on a playground. Yes, there was a playground near the house he remembered. Finally the car came to a stop.

"This looks like the place, Jeff."

Iggy knew it was the moment he stepped outside the car. He looked back to the driver portion of the windshield where he assumed Rachel was and said, "This is the place. Um…thanks."

"No problem. Go on now," Rachel answered and the car pulled out of the driveway.

_Finally back here. That is good._ Iggy walked back across the yard that he knew so well and opened the screen door hard, making it slam on it's hinges. He stalked into the kitchen and got some Cheese-Its to make him feel better. After all, accepting help from strangers did make him feel like a toddler.

"Iggy's back!" Nudge exclaimed with delight and she crashed into him like a truck with hugging.

"Hey, guys."

After repeating that procedure a few more times with the rest of the flock he took a step back. "I just went out for awhile."

"Whose car is that?" Fang asked, probably looking out the window and seeing the white Ford driving away right now.

"The pizzaman," Iggy lied and shook the box of snacks. "Cheese-Its anyone?"


	3. Chapter 3: Options

Iggy: What No One Knows

Chapter 3: Options

Life went on as normally as possible if you overlook the fact that the house was inhabited by six avian hybrids and a talking, flying dog. The flock enjoyed their life now here in an actual home and not stewing rabbit in a cave lit by a caveman's fire.

"Hey, Ig, want to play some basketball with us?" Max called out to the boring slug that sat at the base of one of the trees that bordered the court.

"Good one, Max. Hilarious," he muttered and continued listening to the sounds of the ball smacking pavement and then bouncing back up out of range for detection. Instead Iggy was playing with some mild explosives he snagged up. Max didn't recommend carrying items that could blow the flock off planet earth, but he always kept some anyway, and they made great entertainment.

_You have low confidence in yourself. It is unhealthy._

With the thought a wave of pain hit his head and he winced, feeling like his brain had splattered against his skull.

_I only am here to help. I don't mean to cause you headaches. There is just something you need to know_, the voice said.

If a tiny little voice in his head didn't mean he went crazy then he wasn't sure what that would be. Was this the same voice that Max had in her head, the weird one that always seemed to be telling her what to do in the past?

Yes, everything is connected. I am what you think I am. I only come with a short message though, and I will not be heard of again so listen carefully.

This sounded like fortune-cookie crap, but if Iggy could do anything it was listen. Fire away.

_There is a chance for you to get everything you have always wanted. There is a chance to give you your sight back if you will return back to the School. They can fix your eyes and make them function properly again. This is your only chance._

Iggy gripped onto a gnarled tree root and listened closer than ever. All the other sounds around him were blocked out of his mind as he thought about what the voice had to tell him.

_I want what is best for you, and to be able to see will be the best. You can see like you did before the whitecoats blinded you if not better. It is not too late to consider my offer. Your time to consider this is limited. Think about it._

Iggy wondered if he finally lost it after hearing that. Was that even possible? He had been blind for around nine years, and they were telling him he had a chance to see again? Sure, he was all for that idea, but returning back to the School to do so? That was scary. Because of that place he would forever fear the antiseptic smell of hospitals and fear anyone in case they morphed out into an eraser and attacked him like they have done a billion times in the past before they were all eliminated.

The flock continued playing basketball, flying up to the basket and dunking the ball, laughing and having a great time. Right, of course they didn't know that Iggy was thinking right now, and they wouldn't know either.

He did what the voice said and thought over his options, rejecting the idea with every fiber in his being, but yet feeling all the colors around him and longing to see them like everyone else did.

And then finally he decided, _I have to do this._

Things are a lot easier than done. Iggy didn't leave the couch all night. All the flock plus Ella hung out in the living room most of the night after dinner, watching TV and playing card games and such. They all seemed so happy. What they didn't know was that he was planning on making a getaway to the worst place on earth for the slim chance that he might get his sight back.

_You are crazy, that's it. It is a trap and once you get there a mob of erasers or robots or whatever will attack you and the flock won't be there to help. That is what will happen, and they won't come rescue you because who would guess you ran back to the freaking School like a dog returning to the same place to be fed each night. You are pathetic._

He looked up to where he thought Angel was in the room, feeling the uncomfortable sensation of being stared at. It felt weird and Iggy quickly changed his thoughts to who was going to win the game of poker.

Iggy's thoughts raced until finally the youngest members of the flock went to bed at around eleven, leaving only Max, Fang, Ella and himself. "I'm going," he finally said after hours of silence.

"Going where?" Max asked. "You normally stay up until at least twelve."

"To bed. Where else? Rough day," he answered. "Night, guys." Iggy climbed the stairs quietly, counting them as he went and finally reached his room. Feeling warm with guilt, he shut the door and plopped down on the floor next the bed and reached underneath. He felt all the crap under there and tossed it all aside until he found his shoebox full of explosives. He dragged it out and caressed the precious bombs and various kryptonite ammo, and then felt around for a bag of some sort. Rats, that's right. He kept his backpack in Max's room, partly because he didn't have a closet. Drat.

Iggy opened the door and crept out in the hallway, passing the room Nudge and Angel shared as quietly as possible to Max's on the end. He felt for the doorknob and it creaked open, making him wince. He listened and heard nothing at all. Good, Max wasn't here yet. He easily made it to the closet and felt around until his hands closed around his backpack before slipping back out in the hall.

"Night, Fang."

_Foot steps approaching. Max is coming._ Iggy could hear her climbing the stairs right now and stood in the hallway, not sure which way to go. He couldn't let Max see his stash of light packables. He quickly opened the door to Nudge and Angel's room and slid inside, closing the door behind him right when Max reached the top of the stairs.

Nudge and Angel were sound asleep, undisturbed by the intruder in their room. Max walked down the hall a little more and stopped by what sounded like in front of the room.

_Oh no. Don't come in. Keep walking_, Iggy prayed silently. His heart pounded nervously.

Max kept on walking. Close call. After a few more minutes of silence to confirm Max was asleep, Iggy made an escape back to his cave. No, the explosives didn't go in the backpack. Instead Iggy put them in his pockets, and in secret holes he hacked into the inside of his hoodie especially for hiding them and where Max never thought to look. The backpack was for food.

_Here is your chance. Last chance to climb back into bed and forget this ever happened. Forget it._ Iggy knew it was tempting to do just that, but instead he forced himself into the kitchen and opened the pantry, picking up various boxes and checking their contents. The first in the bag was the ever-popular Cheese-Nips followed by the protein nut bars, and the whole package of peanut butter Ritz crackers. There was no need to be inconspicuous. First thing in the morning the flock would find out he was gone, and this time wouldn't expect him to return when they discovered the precautions he made to prepare for a long flight.

_They will be just fine without me,_ Iggy reassured himself. _After all, I am the messed up side on the Rubix cube who trips over dogs and burns the pancakes. The only thing I am useful for is a hat rack._

Taking the backpack with him, Iggy launched himself in the sky without further hesitation. He wouldn't need Rachel's help getting back here next time. Hopefully when he came back he would be able to see. He was going back to the place he never thought he would go again, the lab that created him, and also the flock's worst nightmare.


	4. Chapter 4: Iggy and Company

Iggy: What No One Knows

Chapter 4: Iggy and Company

Iggy took off, heading for Death Valley. Perfect place to hide a secret lab, huh? Flying was a great time to think about life since there wasn't much else to do while gliding through the pitch black sky. He argued with himself plenty about turning back. Yeah right.

After about fifteen minutes of flying, Iggy wished he had some company. When flying with the flock he always liked hearing Nudge's constant ramblings, and the sounds of wing beats around him. Up here alone all he could hear was the sound of his own wings cutting the wind along with his own breathing. He would probably be feeling this loneliness for many more hours. What he didn't know was that he was being followed.

Iggy looked down, and seeing no bright splotches against the wall of darkness, assumed he was in the country somewhere. He wished Nudge was here to play tour guide and tell him what was down there.

Iggy stopped suddenly in the air, collecting the wind in his wings until he was hovering. And then he listened.

_Wing beats. Coming closer._ And it sounded like pretty big wings too. _Get out of here. Ditch 'em_, Iggy thought and rose up higher and higher until he couldn't hear that sound anymore. He wasn't sure what it was, but better safe than eraser meat.

"Wait! I just want to talk to you!"

Iggy whirled around with confusion and waited until the sound of wing beats was hovering right in front of him. Was that…No, it couldn't be. "Rachel?"

"Yeah. I saw you leave. Where are you going?"

"Screw that. How are you flying?" Iggy asked, wishing he could see them for himself. "You have wings!"

"Yes, we have met even if you don't know it. When you were in Florida you freed me from the Institute. I was the one who led all the other experiments to safety," Rachel explained to Iggy's disbelief. "I also know that you are obviously going somewhere secret."

_What the heck?_ Still shocked that Rachel was actually an avian hybrid just like him, he said, "I am just going out for a flight." He was glad his eyes couldn't express his emotions.

Rachel flew past him, her wings brushing his on the downstroke. "You are not a very good liar, are you. Coming out so I can drive you home again? We all know that's a lie. And another thing. You fed me with boloney, lying about your name. No Jeffs this time."

_Don't trust this weirdo. She comes flying in out of nowhere, accusing of you of lying and flying around like an annoying mosquito? Let the psycho down easily_. Iggy surprised himself when he said, "Iggy" instead of another lie. "I'm going nowhere important."

"I am interested."

"Too bad," he answered.

"It is either you let me come or I will just follow you. You aren't the only one who owns the sky."

Iggy sighed. "I am going to the School in Death Valley. I have some…business to take care of there. You are familiar with that place."

"Absolutely. If you have business to take care of then I'm in. And let's face it, you need help. You can't do this alone," Rachel pointed out.

Accepting _help? Are you really going to trample the ounce of dignity you have left_? Yes, that did sound tempting, he decided as he remembered the Rubix cube. "You're right. I can't. You can come with, but that doesn't make you responsible for me in any way. Like I said, I can take care of myself just fine."

"Let's go. We are going to get along wonderfully," Rachel said optimistically.

"I will try to sustain my joy," Iggy mumbled and flew after her. She was annoying and persistent, but he did feel better having her company.

"So, how are we going to find the School?" Rachel asked Iggy.

_Geez, my ears are going to bleed_. "Duh. I grew up in Casa Della pet carrier there. I would recognize it anywhere," Iggy answered, just wishing she would shut up already. "And besides, you can _see_. Anything is possible now."

"And lead us there how? I've never been there. I won't know what it looks like."

Reality stinks.

"I will worry about that when I get there," Iggy said.

"Okay, I get it. Anyway, do you think the flock knows you are gone by now?" Rachel asked him curiously.

Iggy once again was reminded of what he did, and quickly shut it out. "I don't know. Not going back until I have what I came for, and I'm not exactly sure how long that will be."

Rachel didn't press him for any details, surprisingly.

Max was used to sleeping lightly and as soon as Fang opened the door she leaped out of bed and prepared her battle stance until she saw it was just Fang. As soon as he looked up at her with those dark eyes, Max knew something was wrong.

Fang wasn't standing there, cool and evasive as he normally was, and he looked tense. "We have a problem."

Max groaned and rubbed her eyes. "What is it? You are cold and want to snuggle?"

"It's Iggy. He's gone."

_Right. Can't have a decent nap around here without someone vanishing off the face of the earth. _"Gone?"

Fang brought the whole party along and soon the rest of the flock piled into Max's room. Max practically threw them to the back of the room like baseballs in a rush to hear what Fang had to say.

"Iggy is gone. Not here."

"What do you mean gone? I heard Iggy go to bed last night," Nudge objected.

"Yeah."

"We established that already. Just tell us what happened," Max ordered impatiently. Just then she heard a knock on her door and she almost ripped it off its hinges while opening it. It was only Ella.

"Guys, I heard all the noise. What is going on?"

"No time. Sorry. Flock business," she explained quickly and slammed the door. "Fang, out with it before we get the whole world in my room."

"I heard the screen door slam shut so I went downstairs to investigate. I looked around a little and found the door to Iggy's room wide open, unoccupied. I then looked in the kitchen for him, and found that a lot of the snacks are gone. Probably enough for a few days," Fang explained, saying more than Max had heard in a long time.

"So, Iggy went somewhere," Gazzy asked, confused.

"It is that or the midnight munchies," Max said and wanted to strangle the information out of Fang instead of waiting for the whole room to quiet down first. "Well, where?"

"If I knew I probably would have said so by now. Like I said, I don't know. Iggy just…left."

The room was full of a silence that made it feel like a graveyard. Max shot off the bed and made it to the doorway.

"There is no point. I have already checked the whole property. Iggy left," Fang protested and Max shoved him out of the way to get through to the hallway.

"So you want me to sit here and do nothing?" Max shot back. She quickly swallowed her worries before the others could catch on and remained calm. After all, that is what leaders are supposed to do, right?

"So Iggy obviously flew somewhere. That makes him impossible to track," Nudge pointed out. "What are we going to do? What if he was taken?"

"A mouse can't scurry across the floor without me knowing," Max protested. "I think I could hear an infinite struggle downstairs."

Angel's huge eyes were looking at Max pleadingly. "But Max. What if Iggy doesn't come back?"

_Yeah, Max? What if? You going to tell Bambi-eyed Nudge that? _"It's okay, guys. This is something Iggy needs to sort out by himself. The only thing we can do is wait for him to come back. Iggy is on his own."


	5. Chapter 5: Iggy's Date

Iggy: What No One Knows

Chapter 5: Iggy's Date

Iggy hated to admit it. He really did, but he discovered some inner emotion he never felt before. And what was really strange was that it was directed towards his companion, Rachel. What it was exactly was hard to explain though.

They flew onward and Iggy wondered if she was feeling the same way about him. He was no mindreader, but she seemed happy talking to him up here like there was nothing else she would rather be doing.

"We need to refuel," Iggy suggested after awhile. "Small portion meals aren't really cutting it."

"While we're down there, can I…ask you something?" Rachel asked, sounding unsure.

"That hasn't stopped you before. What is it?"

"Wait until we land," she said and the two of them went downward.

Iggy could hear traffic below. They were near some unknown town, and let Rachel guide him to a tree they could land in. "Describe what's out there please."

"This city is huge. There are a lot of buildings. We might be in Pheonix, Arizona. That sounds right. We are in a tree behind some houses. They are pretty nice ones too," Rachel asked. "That house looks good. It even has a pool!"

Boredly Iggy asked, "So what is it that you wanted to tell me?" When he mentioned it he could already sense the nervous edge to her voice. _What? Erasers, robots, where?_

"I was just wondering…Would you like to go on a date?"

Iggy couldn't hide his surprise. "A date? You mean like going to a place alone with you for some time?"

She giggled, a warm, tinkly laugh. "That is what a date is. What do you say?"

_What do I do? What do I do? Oh geez, she just asked me out! Quick, say you're involved with someone else. Say something!_ Iggy's thoughts raced until finally he said, "Sure." After all, isn't that the strange feeling he was feeling too while flying? "I guess that would be okay."

"Iggy, you are fantastic. Let's go. It will be fun."

Iggy climbed down the tree after Rachel. Gliding down with their big wings wasn't exactly an option since there were so many people around who could easily see them so they went down the old-fashioned way. Iggy felt the branches and made his way down. It was a little hard, but he was glad Rachel allowed him to do this by himself and wasn't trying to baby him about getting down.

Rachel leaped and landed in the grass somewhere below. After a few more branches Iggy landed beside her.

"The big city looks pretty neat from here. I wish you could see it," Rachel said. "We are on a hill. There is just so much here! It looks kind of like New York."

"Lead the way. Where do you want to go? I didn't know I would be playing I Win a Date." He tucked his wings in tightly against his spine and straightened out the hoodie the best he could so that he looked almost normal.

"Let's go." Rachel grabbed his hand and dragged him along impatiently along the streets until they were in the busiest parts of the city. Iggy hesitated quite often, and Rachel kept pulling him along. So much noise, and there was so much brightness. His senses were just a blur, being unable to hear much with all the noise. He trusted Rachel though and let her take him along. After all, being a mutant experiment like him, she had to be used to looking around for faces in the crowd that looked dangerous or like they didn't belong.

"Look at that. This place looks cool."

Nothing but darkness. "Are we looking at a steam roller?"

"This place looks fancy. Wow, you can eat up on the balcony!" Rachel exclaimed excitedly. "And there are fireworks tonight!"

"Nothing is more exciting than hearing loud booms."

She was not downed by Iggy's negativity and led them inside. "This will be fun."

As soon as they got in the building, Iggy began making a map of the joint, making sure he had all the escape routes down in case they ran into another predicament right in the middle of this freaking date. Hopefully they would be out of here in a moment on the balcony. At least there they could fly off if they needed to. Right, like a lot of people go up there and use it as a launching point anyway.

Rachel got them signed in at the front desk, and a waitress who sounded like she was in her twenties led them upstairs to the balcony. Iggy tried to look around quite often to hide the fact that he was blind to everyone around him.

A large bowl of salad was delivered to the table, and the menus were passed out. Not being too fond of salad, Iggy grabbed the menu and handed it to Rachel. "Can you read me the menu? Unless of course the only specialty they have is darkness with a side of black blobs."

"Certainly." Rachel began looking at all the rather expensive items carefully. "Well, they have cheddar and bacon soup, an onion ring appetizer, and chicken parmagiana. I might get the alfredo pasta. It looks good."

"I'll get that too. Two orders of that with the breadsticks, and a pitcher of root beer," Iggy decided.

After the waitress came with their drinks Rachel asked, "So, how exactly did you go blind?"

The question caught him completely off guard. Was this really what a date was, your date digging into your personal life like this? "I wasn't always blind. Those jerks at the School tried to improve my night vision. Well, it is really good now."

"That is awful," Rachel said sympathetically. Iggy actually wished that meant something.

"Well, this is okay. We don't have to go that far back. Why not you tell me about the flock a little more? Max is really something, huh?"

Iggy told her all about Max and was describing Fang's blackness when the manager came up to him, and why did it sound like he had company? "Good, you got those breadsticks yet?"

"Sir, put your hands up, please. This is the FBI, and we have detected an unusual amount of…explosives on you," one of them said.

_You've got to be kidding me. _"You wouldn't really accuse a poor, blind kid of having bombs, would you? Golly." Iggy stood up, prepared to knock them all out when Rachel stepped between them.

"This is all a mistake," Rachel protested. "He doesn't have anything."

Iggy stepped around Rachel and grabbed a shirtful of manager, shoving him to the ground. "Just bring the bill and we won't have any problems today," he snarled, spitting venom.

Iggy felt rough hands grab him by the hoodie, and struggled, literally blind with fury. He whirled around and kicked the guy holding him, freeing him instantly. He hoped that didn't break the guy's collarbone.

"I'm out of here. Rot in a sack you freaking jerkfaces!" Iggy shouted and dodged another FBI agent.

"Iggy, let's go!" Rachel ran off toward the edge of the balcony. "There is a table five steps ahead."

Taking the notice, Iggy swerved around it and then threw himself off the balcony, feeling the exhilaration of freefalling before opening his large wings and disappearing in the night sky. He could just picture everyone staring with disbelief and smiled.

After getting the heck out of there, they landed on a very tall building. Rachel was rolling over with laughter. "That was awesome!"

"Too bad. We didn't even get our food," Iggy complained, famished from hunger.

"Yeah. Those guys were jerks."

Iggy opened up the small leather pouch he had been carrying and leafed through some identity cards, receipts, then money. Quite a bit actually. "That is why I took his wallet."

"Neat. There are twenties!"

All of a sudden a loud boom went off, making Iggy quiver. _Oh no. Was that a bomb? Attack?_

"The fireworks are going off," Rachel explained and laid back to watch them. Iggy did the same and Rachel described each one to him, and he pictured the pretty explosions in his mind. The two of them enjoyed some protein bars and Ritz crackers while they watched the show.

"Iggy, as far as disasters go, this is one of the best nights of my life."

"It was different," he agreed. He noticed Rachel getting closer. Why was she getting so… close?

She then wrapped her wings around his shoulders and _kissed_ him. Iggy wanted to back out, but he couldn't find the urge to move. He was lost in the moment. He returned the gesture and wrapped his wings around hers, and felt her beautiful chestnut brown feathers in his fingertips.

This was definitely the best night ever.


	6. Chapter 6: The Tables Turn

Iggy: What No One Knows

Chapter 6: The Tables Turn

"There it is," Rachel finally said. "Wow, it really is in the middle of nowhere, huh? We almost flew right past it."

"Right. We wouldn't want to bypass _this_ place," Iggy mumbled.

She flew slightly closer to him so that he could feel the wind she stirred up. "Now that we are here, can I ask you why? What are we going to do now that we are here? Mutiny? Sabotage? Are we going to look for evidence of other experiments?"

Iggy didn't know what to answer. She didn't know why he was here. She thought he was here to get revenge for everything they did to him, but she could never accept the truth that he was handing himself over willingly, could she? No, probably not. The best thing to do now was to just go with it.

"Something like that," Iggy replied which wasn't a total lie. After all, if this was a trap and it very well could be, he would have to result to sabotage, mutiny, or something else of that vicinity.

"Good. I would do anything to get revenge on all these evil lowlifes."

How exactly would they make their entrance? Iggy thought about this on their long flight from Pheonix, and couldn't really find a solution. He was blind before he could get of there, so he wasn't exactly sure where all the doorways, hallways, and entrances were. But that was why Rachel was here.

"Whoa. We got company."

"What? Where?" Iggy asked impatiently.

"Something is flying toward us, and it looks like there are a lot of them." Rachel suddenly gasped. "Erasers! But how? They are extinct!"

"Don't know, don't care to find out. How many of them are there?"

After a moment of silence as Rachel calculated how many there were she answered, "There might be around fifteen. Fight or flight?"

_We are severely outnumbered. We need to scram or we will be chew toys_, Iggy thought. _What? You can't handle a bunch of stupid erasers? Is that it?_ "We fight," he replied firmly.

Erasers launched themselves down upon the two bird kids. Iggy spun around, then was divebombed by an eraser. He quickly slid out from beneath and it's large clumsy wings made it rise in a sluggish way. Iggy flew near it and kicked it as hard as he could and made contact. The eraser wheezed for breath and then plummeted downward. Score one for the blind kid!

Suddenly a set of claws raked down Iggy's face. Infuriated, he turned to where it came from and whaled on the eraser with no mercy, dodging this way and that before its clumsy wings could even turn it around to face him. Iggy felt its left wing and aimed a little further down and to the right.

Right when Iggy was about to whack it, he was tossed backward when another one got him right between his wings.

_Ow. Ow. Where did that come from? Grr…_ It hurt just to stay up in the air, and Iggy folded his wings and fell freely for awhile to give himself some time to recover. After about thirty feet Iggy launched himself back up into battle. Rachel was up there fighting over a dozen erasers alone! Well, she probably took out a few by now, but there were still a lot of them.

Iggy's face still stung from where the stupid eraser nabbed him, but he wasn't raised to give in and retreat. That just wasn't the bird-kid way. He managed to sandwich through the fray and get to Rachel. She was in rough combat with what sounded like two other erasers.

Geez, where was anything? Iggy darted forward, thinking he heard something there and only hit thin air. He did feel a whoosh of air above him. Drat. The eraser dodged it easily before he even got there.

Rachel did make contact with it though and it fell awkwardly, forgetting to flap its freaking wings! The erasers just couldn't get that flapping them is what kept them afloat. Iggy remembered all the fights the flock had faced with the new flying erasers, and they all described how funny they would look while fighting. Probably no different here.

"Dude, move it!"

Too late. Iggy felt something sting his right wing. _What on earth_? He realized what it was and lashed out blindly and spiraling downward, dislodging the eraser. _The freaking eraser bit me? _The air was rushing past him now and he quickly tried to gain altitude, but he was losing it too fast.

A lightning bolt of pain shot through his wing and he couldn't move it. He was going down and couldn't do anything about it. Iggy fell down and collided with the branches of the trees below, and the trees hot-potatoed the grounded bird kid all the way to the ground.

Laying on the ground, everything hurt and he couldn't move. Iggy laid there, moaning and turned over to stop crunching his aching wings. He heard the rough voices of multiple erasers standing over him. In his mind he wanted all of them to catch fire right then, but couldn't find the energy to raise heck after his long fall.

Their rough voices turned sluggish, and Iggy felt very light-headed. They didn't even make sense anymore, and Iggy was left not knowing where he was anymore. If he didn't already see blackness anyway, this could be considered blacking out. The last thing he remembered before falling to a forced sleep was being dragged across the ground toward the School.

_Man, I feel like crap. Ugh._

Iggy laid there for a moment, too sluggish to take in his surroundings. After a few minutes he had the courage to roll over and felt a wall in front of him. He tried to sit up, but barely even had the room to do that. He was in a smallish box of some sort.

The next thing Iggy noticed was the smell, the antiseptic smell that made him feel sick on the inside. He put these two realizations together and decided that he was in the School, and this was no box. It was a dog crate size large.

"Iggy, are you awake?" a voice whispered.

Iggy, still feeling awful, sat up and turned around to the direction of the noise. "I am now. Rachel?"

Her voice, sounding small and scared, came from the crate next to his. "You have been out awhile. That was some fall you had. I was pretty worried."

_That is right. I fell out of the sky. _Iggy folded his wings tightly against his spine to spare a little of the tiny room he had. Yep, the eraser certainly tore out some feathers, and left an ugly mark on his wing, but at least it felt a little better now. What really hurt was all the bruises and scratches he got while crash landing.

"What happened?"

"After you fell, I went down to see if you were okay, but the erasers got me. We were taken in here, and put in these dog crates. Reminds me of the Institute all over again," Rachel explained.

"Reminds me of the first six years of my life," Iggy muttered and felt the door to his carrier, but couldn't get his fingers through to the lock.

_Okay, why the heck are we in dog crates? I was supposed to come here_, Iggy thought and kicked the bars with no success. _I know why the plan didn't work. It is because you listened to a stupid little voice in your head. That is what did it. Don't play stupid. What did you expect anyway? A little Welcome Home party with chips and dip? Sure, that is exactly it and now look at what you got into._

Iggy heard the sounds of footsteps long before they even entered the room, and when they did he wanted to cower in the tiniest ball in the tiniest corner of the carrier, but after all this he was fuming. He slammed against the bars, making the carrier scoot a few inches across the floor. "What do you think this is? LET ME OUT NOW!"

"Iggy, is it?" It sounded like it came from a middle-aged guy.

"Yeah, and what should I call you? Jerk without a soul?"

Ignoring his last comment, the whitecoat/scientist started talking to his companions too quietly to hear for what seemed like forever.

"I bet they arrange flower baskets on weekends," Iggy whispered to Rachel.

"Well…Iggy, we understand that you have come here for a reason. We know very well that you want your sight back, and you should be happy to know that we can give it back to you. Nice entrance there."

"Go fall in a ditch. Give me one reason to trust you," Iggy snarled, thinking about what Max would say at a time like this.

"You came here," the whitecoat answered.

"What are they talking about?" Rachel asked. "I don't understand this."

"Well, do you still want this?"

_Right cause after being attacked by the recently brought-back erasers and being thrown in a freaking dog crate, you just roll over at their feet. _But Iggy couldn't ignore the fact that he came all this way for the tiny chance that he could get his sight back, and here it was.

"I don't trust you at all, but you are right. That is exactly why I came here," Iggy replied. "I did come willingly."

Iggy could imagine them nodding with approval. "Yes, and I see you brought Experiment 12 too."

"Her name is Rachel. Say it right," he interrupted.

"Yes, well we will attempt to fix your sight, but your friend is of no use to us. We will help you, but she will stay to be studied. There is still so much to learn from human-avian hybrids. On those conditions we will satisfy your needs. Take it or leave it."

Iggy was speechless. Just last night they went on a _date_, and now they wanted him to turn her in just to see again? Why did she have to come anyway? He never asked her to come! He did have other means though, other plans…

"I accept." _Idiots._

Rachel gasped with horror. "How could you do this to me? You are sick! I trusted you!"

Those words made Iggy fall apart on the inside, but she would know his reasons soon. She didn't know the half of it.


	7. Chapter 7: The Betrayer Betrayed

Iggy: What No One Knows

Chapter 7: The Betrayer Betrayed

Iggy followed the scientists, not feeling too sure of himself, but feeling he had no other choice. He wished Rachel could understand his decision, and she didn't know about what he had planned. Hopefully all would show itself soon.

The sounds of shuffling footsteps ceased, and Iggy assumed they stopped in front of a door. _Doorknob creaking, door sliding open, and people going inside._ He made sure to note all of his surroundings as he passed by. He even calculated how many steps it took to get back to his starting point. You could never be too careful.

"In here."

"Just be patient," Iggy grumbled and set foot inside. _Hmm…doesn't smell like antiseptic, no more erasers trying to tear me to pieces…seems good. In fact, it actually smelled like food. Did the whitecoats go on coffee break at this time of day or something? _He took a few steps forward and collided with a table. Not the sterile slick kind, but just a normal, peace-loving table. It even came with peace-loving chairs, believe it or not.

"Sit, please." Everyone else left, leaving just one left, sitting across the table.

_I can always hurl one of these chairs if necessary_, Iggy thought and pulled a few closer.

"Enough small talk. I came here for a reason, and I don't want to die of old age by the time you quit talking." Max sure would be proud of that one.

After a moment of recovering from an Iggy moment the whitecoat said, "Experiment seven, you-"

"Don't you dare call me that again," Iggy ordered, practically spitting venom at being called "Experiment."

"You lost your sight awhile back after failing to improve your night vision, impairing some of the balances in your retina, causing the color reception to fail when passing through the rest of the eye."

"I don't speak nerd." He could picture Nerdy fuming now.

"I can fix that, and we plan for eye surgery immediately to fix these errors."

Iggy's grip tightened on the sides of the chair. "Excuse me? Surgery? You're kidding, right? If you think I am going to sit there and let you guys do whatever the heck you want with me while I'm a limp noodle then forget it." He was about to get up and storm out, but Nerdy here seemed to be anticipating that and stood up, clearly about to block the door if he left. Was this blackmail?

"Before you leave and lose this brilliant opportunity, consider your options. What do you have to lose?"

_Geez, unless they have the magic power to take away your wall of blackness then nothing._ "Nothing. I'll do it."

"Excellent choice. There is no point delaying what has to be done so we will start right away," Nerdy explained, sounding rather excited.

_Probably has the mad scientist science fair tonight._

Iggy followed Nerdy to another room, this time a lab room that made him freeze in his tracks, reminding him of all the awful memories he went through in lab rooms. The whitecoat led him to this table and pushed on his shoulder as a signal to sit down. Iggy was as tense as ever and wondered if it was too late to make a run for it. It sure was tempting.

"Okay, I am going to give you some anesthetic for the surgery, and when you wake up your eyes should feel a little funny. They will probably remain like that for a few days, and hopefully by then you will be able to see."

He didn't trust them at ALL, but it was not like he had anything to lose. It was worth a try. This could very well be a trap, but he was just going to be a daredevil and take the chance anyway.

Shuffle. Shuffle. Clank. Clank.

Iggy listened to the sounds of paper shuffling and metal utensils hitting hard surfaces, and he began twitching, feeling uncomfortable to the max.

He felt hands moving down his spine while the whitecoat muttered about avian spinal structure and distribution points, whatever that meant. He finally settled between Iggy's shoulder blades and he felt the prick that would put him to sleep. Too late to go back now.

"Just relax," Nerdy said and left the room.

He sat there for a moment, not feeling any different when his sensitive hearing picked up something outside the room in the hallway. Being as paranoid as he was, he got up and moved closer to the door, leaning against the wall to listen.

"I have everything under control," the voice of Nerdy said to another someone Iggy didn't recognize.

"Good. I have been waiting to get brain samples for Experiment Seven, and to test its reflexes would be of the utmost importance."

Oh no.

They had other plans and Iggy wasn't planning on sticking around to find out. He rushed toward the door and also to the voices outside of it, and began feeling the effects of the anesthetics. When he touched the white walls, the color that came to his mind was more blurred, and they were harder to determine like a melted rainbow snowcone.

_Snap out of it. You have to get out of here._

Iggy touched the walls frantically until he felt door hinges. He reached out and found the doorknob and twisted it. He slammed it against the wall and made a run down the hallway, counting steps as he went.

"Hey you! Stop!"

Yeah. Stealth at this point was impossible. Iggy was blind and under anesthetics, but he was still an enhanced human-avian hybrid, and whirled around, waiting for the two whitecoats to come closer.

It was over almost instantly. Iggy kicked one hard and he whacked the wall, and probably knocked the other one out within seconds and continued his race down the hall. He kept his wings extended, and they grazed the walls on each side when Iggy strayed off course, and he was able to make it to the end of the hall without crashing into any walls.

The tiredness was almost too much, and he felt lightheaded, even forgetting where he was going at the end of the hallway, and he felt so weak. The weakness was almost too much to bare and he wanted to sink to the floor and sleep. Iggy's breathing came harder, and he stumbled against a wall, fighting to stay on his feet.

No quitting. You have to get out of here first. Rachel is depending on you, Iggy encouraged himself and made the turn, opened the door, and finally arrived in the room where he and Rachel were caged earlier.

"Rachel, we have to get out of here," Iggy called out and touched another wall only to feel more mush in his mind. "Where are you?"

No answer.

Where was she? She couldn't be gone! Iggy stumbled around the room, tripping over a dog crate and almost falling flat on his face from lack of balance. "Rachel?" He stopped his "fancy dancer" attempt and stood stock still to listen.

_Yes, there is the sound of breathing coming from…seven or eight steps diagonal from here,_ Iggy reasoned out and went there. By now he couldn't help it and collapsed to the floor in a heap. "Rachel? Are…are you…there?"

"Get out of here," came the voice of Rachel, sounding bitter.

"Don't be ridiculous. We have to go," Iggy stammered, clutching the bars just to feel something that would keep him conscious.

Rachel shuffled farther away, shrinking against the back of the dog crate. "You are one of them now. I can't trust you. You betrayed me."

"You're…right. All along I just…wanted to get here…to get my sight back. I…was wrong. They will come for me any minute. We have to scram." Iggy sighed and sagged against the crate, feeling all his senses dull out, and he wasn't even sure where he was anymore. Sleep medication can do that to a person.

Rachel stuck her hand through and shook him roughly, making Iggy regain control of what he was doing.

He felt around for the lock, and felt it carefully, not really concentrating at all, but trying anyway. It was just the basic lock design, and Iggy squeezed the two pieces together and the door swung open.

He wasn't too sure of anything anymore, but he thought he heard Rachel say something and climb out. He just had to sleep.

"Get up. We have to move," Rachel insisted.

Iggy tried to say something, but couldn't find the energy to and everything was gone.


	8. Chapter 8: Lockdown

Iggy: What No One Knows

Chapter 8: Lockdown

_Where am I? Ugh… _Iggy felt consciousness return at last, but he was still unaware of his surroundings, or what was going on. His mind was still fuzzy, and his thoughts were muddled and messed up.

"Come on. Wake up."

Was that Rachel? It kind of sounded like her, but he couldn't be sure. He laid there for a few more minutes, regaining feeling before sitting up, still feeling groggy and sluggish.

"Oh good. You're awake. I was getting worried," she said. Yep, it was Rachel.

"That sleep serum sure is crazy stuff. Everything is kind of a blur. Can you fill me in on what happened?" Iggy asked.

"We don't have much time. The whole School is on lockdown. There are erasers and whitecoats everywhere."

Iggy tensed and relaxed again after hearing only silence around him. "Where are we now?"

Rachel's wings stretched out and her beautiful feathers brushed his hand and brown flashed in his mind. "You passed out after you freed me. The School went out in lockdown so I dragged you downstairs in a storage room. It should be safe. They haven't checked here yet at least."

_Wake up you idiot. You are still in the freaking School, and you are napping!_ By now he was feeling a little better. "We need to scram."

"Like I don't know that. I have been down here for about an hour, waiting for you to wake up. That was scary. I was afraid any minute we would be discovered," Rachel said.

Iggy stood up, leaning onto the wall for support at first then freely walking around the basement. He stopped abruptly before a file cabinet and felt it. It was a cold metal that matched the dark scenery. Curious, he felt around to the front and opened one of the drawers and felt inside. Yep, it felt like a lot of paper.

Iggy heard Rachel come up behind him, and her fingers shuffled through all the different files; the ones he couldn't read. "I didn't know there were files down here."

Iggy recalled the secret files he and Gazzy found in the basement of the old school the flock attended. _People often put secret files in places no one would think to look. Places like here._ "What do these files say? What do they even look like?"

"Well, they are fat folders wrapped in rubber bands. At least they are being tidy. Score one for the mad scientists." Rachel took one out and the rubber band snapped as she took it off the fat portfolio. Then came the rustling of paper brushing paper and Iggy clenched his fists impatiently.

"What is inside?"

"I'm just as useless as you are right now. It is too dark to see a thing," Rachel complained.

"Right. Useless. Thanks," Iggy muttered and felt the folders carefully. "I have a feeling these are important." He tried the other drawers too but the other two wouldn't budge, leaving them with only the files in this drawer.

"We don't have time to look through all of these. Let's just take them with us."

_ZIP! ZIP!_

"Is that my backpack?" Iggy asked, feeling the redness of it hopefully. "Where did you find it?"

"It was hanging on the wall in the…experimenting room," Rachel answered, hesitating slightly before mentioning "experiment." After all, that is what they were according to the School. "I grabbed it."

Iggy grabbed a heaping armful of files and shoved them in the backpack, not having the time to care if every individual paper stayed neatly in its correct folder. He grabbed the last two in the back and shoved them in last. Maybe these would shed some light in the mere future.

That is, if there even was a future. They still had to get of here first.

Rachel descended up the stairs. Iggy stubbed his toe on the first step and followed her up, hopefully out of this depressing hole. He heard the sound long before Rachel did, and he stopped at a standstill, pulling Rachel to a stop too.

Both of them listened, not daring to make a sound. Yes, it was exactly what Iggy suspected. Someone was coming. No, multiple beings were coming this way.

"What do we do?" Rachel asked, making Iggy feel superior because she was asking him of all people for advice. There wasn't another choice but still.

"They can't pass this door. They are going to check it. Is there anywhere to hide?"

"Not unless we can turn invisible. Our bird kid powers haven't gone that far yet," she whispered.

_All right. This is bad. Think! Think!_

"We are just going to have to catch them by surprise. Not many options to work with. Up the stairs quick."

They stayed as quiet as possible, making very faint clicks when their shoes collided with the cold, hard staircase. Rachel tapped his hand, a signal that he was used to and he pressed himself against the wall. She flattened herself against the opposite wall and they waited in deathly silence.

Iggy heard them coming closer, and he was just about to lose it. Where were they? Any moment they are going to barge in and capture us. They know we're here.

"Now."

Without thinking, Iggy threw himself forward, and the door broke off its hinges, clattering to the floor with a deafening crash. He could detect the thump of it hitting something or someone before it fell, and with pride he realized he just knocked out an eraser with his dramatic entrance. Or exit.

"This way," Rachel called and Iggy spun around toward the sound of her voice. He ran to follow her when an eraser reached out and grabbed him with a furry mitt, and he felt sharp claws pinch into his arm.

_Crap._

Iggy wriggled like a fish, sliding out of its grasp and ran after Rachel, spreading his wings out a little wider to feel his surroundings. He would never let Rachel see him crash into anything like a blind mole ever again.

An alarm was steadily going off, and Iggy was lost and confused. He slowed down only to have Rachel pull him in the right direction.

"There's a door. That has to be the way out." Rachel rushed over to it hopefully and tried jerking the handle. She was growling with the effort.

"It is a lockdown. Obviously the door is locked," Iggy said. "Is there another way out?"

"Take cover!"

Rachel shoved him behind a pillar and he stumbled, grabbing the wall for support. That very second he heard the deafening ringing of gunshots nail the wall where he was just standing moments before.

_That would have killed me, and I wouldn't have even known._

"They are shooting at us! Where do we go?"

The shooting stopped and Rachel looked around, not daring to leave the safety of the pillar behind. "There is a window. It is high up, but it is our only chance. We are going to have to break for it. There might be a chance we will have to face some bullets though."

That is a risk we will just have to take. I will die before I let them catch me," Iggy said and threw himself back out into the open. He leaped and his wings propelled him upward toward the ceiling with Rachel close behind.

"Window directly to your left," she called out and Iggy took a sharp left.

He splat against the window like a bug, but he made it and that was all that mattered. He fell a few inches, stunned, but fluttered right back up and tried to break it manually without success. _Crap! Crap, crap…_

"I'll get it. I think if I twist these_-"_

_Bang! Bang!_

Instantly Iggy swerved, hoping he went the right way to dodge it. "No time! We have to move!"

The glass shattered and shards exploded from the window, pelting them with glass. The window broke! It was open! Unharmed, Iggy hurled himself out into the open air, feeling free and powerful.

Rachel was halfway out when another shot rang out and she squeaked with surprise.

Not time to stop. They had to keep moving.

Iggy flew higher and flew quickly away from the School with Rachel behind him somewhere. He wasn't exactly sure where, but he could hear her wings behind him.

"I think we lost them," Rachel said after many long minutes of hurried flight. "We should land before they spot us."

Iggy heard something in her voice that automatically made him concerned. "What happened?"

"A shot clipped my wing is all. No big deal," she replied although Iggy could tell she was wincing from the pain.

She was right. They needed to land. They went down in a patch of trees, safely hidden from aerial view. Iggy threw the backpack down in the dirt and grabbed Rachel's wing to examine it.

"Seriously, it is no biggie."

"Where is it?" he asked, not believing her comment what-so-ever.

Rachel moved his hand closer until he felt the feathers part away in an awkward fashion, and they were slick and sticky with blood. Iggy's delicate fingers passed over it, feeling around her feathers and noticing the change of the color that came to his mind when he touched her injury and the rest of her feathers.

"You are right. It isn't serious," Iggy claimed and stepped back. "It could have been a lot worse."

_She risked her life for you earlier. She saved your life! Say something. Anything! _Iggy thought, but the very idea of doing that made his thoughts flutter in his mind like a whirlwind. "Let's take a look at those files," he said instead. "These files are important. I just know it." _Idiot._


	9. Chapter 9: Island 492

Iggy: What No One Knows

Chapter 9: Island 492

Iggy boredly drew squiggles in the dirt of the cave, unable to find anything else to do. Occasionally he heard the sound of paper as Rachel flipped through the files, but other than that there was only silence.

_What could they say? Why is it taking so long_? he wondered.

"There is just a bunch of numbers," Rachel said after awhile. "It is just like a computer code or something."

"Is it like that on all the pages?" Iggy asked.

"They are just computer codes. Nothing interesting." She flipped another page and studied at the numbers, unable to understand what they meant. "There is something on this page."

Iggy sat up, instantly curious. "What?"

"There is a diagram. It is a diagram of an…island?"

"An island?"

"That is what I said. It is a black and white picture of an island. It is kind of blurry though," she explained, moving his hand over the image so he could feel the grainy newspaper texture. "I wonder what that means. Maybe there is a secret facility there or something. Actually, there is a little information below it."

The suspense was killing poor Iggy. Rachel was very beholding. This could be the most important piece of information ever written down and he still would only see it as a blur of black and white in his fingertips. All the better to have Rachel here.

"Island 492, Nublar Bay, it says."

Iggy thought about it for a moment. What could that mean? "Well, Nublar Bay must be a place then, and this island must be nearby. That is it."

Rachel put the papers down. "That is all of them. Nothing interesting. I wonder when the skies will be safe."

_Screw going home. _"We just discovered a secret island that is crucial to the School, and you don't even want to check it out?" Iggy asked disbelievingly.

"What's the point? Who cares what is on that island? It isn't our problem. There might be nothing there at all. It is an old file after all, and it might not mean anything," Rachel pointed out. As if suddenly feeling awkward being so close to him, she moved aside.

"But what if there _is_ something there. We could be the only outsiders ever to know about this."

"Don't you want to go home?"

"Why would I want to do that?" Iggy questioned. "So I can tumble about my endless darkness, feeling worthless and making pancakes too done and tripping over dogs when I could be on a secret mission, exploring some secret island off the coast of Nublar Bay?" He ended it then and there, feeling he built up a strong enough argument.

Rachel was silent for a moment before answering. "So you made up your mind?"

"You don't have to come," Iggy reminded her.

"If you are going then I'm with you every step of the way."

Was that a good thing? he wondered. Why was he feeling so…disappointed about it? He should be grateful after all she did. _We went on a freaking date! Doesn't that mean anything?_ "That's great. I'm glad to have you."

"Look, say it already. What's your problem?"

"Right. Clearly I have a problem," he mumbled.

_It is because you didn't get what you hoped for. That's it. You were an idiot._ Of course he conveniently left that part out. "So, are we going to find it or what? First we need to find out where Nublar Bay is."

Rachel flipped through the papers thoughtfully. "There has to be some kind of location on here somewhere. But where? It is just a bunch of numbers…This is useless."

"I'm not big on books, but I have a feeling we may need to visit the Nerd Palace."

"The library," Rachel repeated. "Okay."

_Flip. Flip. Flip._

Iggy pulled another book off the shelf while Rachel flipped through the selection of atlases. He felt the thickness, texture, and then would do the same procedure with another book. Yep, this was the life.

_Flip._

"Here it is. Nublar Bay," Rachel said and put her finger on the map in a place Iggy couldn't see. "It is off the coast of South America. There is an island chain than runs all along Chi-lee."

"Gotcha. And I think it is pronounced Chi-lay if I learned anything from listening to the news channel," he answered. "Is there a bulletin on the map saying Island 492 above it?"

Rachel didn't answer, and Iggy wondered if she heard. He paused to listen, and already felt something was wrong. He wasn't exactly sure what it was, but it made him feel alert immediately. He ran through evasive maneuvers in his mind as he waited in silence.

_Don't look like you know anything. _Iggy casually picked up another book off the shelf and pretended like he was reading the contents. Sure enough in the corner of the room he heard the sound of someone come in the room. They were large, meaty footsteps. Sure sounded like eraser feet.

"When I give the signal, jump out that window. Go to the end of this bookshelf and then leap through the window straight ahead. It is thin and should break. Ready?" Rachel whispered.

"As ready as I will ever be."

"This book looks interesting," she said a little more loudly. "Go."

The moment she said that Iggy made a dash, passing the last wall of books and cannonballing out the window, feeling the glass break. He flew off into the sky and Rachel flew up beside him.

"How did they find us?" Rachel asked. "I thought we gained a lot of distance between us and them."

"Clearly not. But at least we have what we came for. We will have to play it by ear when we get there," Iggy replied. "I also have a feeling we haven't seen the last of them."

For Iggy and Rachel everything was going well, but little did they know that they weren't the only ones involved in this mess.


	10. Chapter 10: Wandu's Writing Journal

Iggy: What No One Knows

A Word from Wanda

Here we are. I know, you actually expected another chapter of Iggy here, but so-ree! Now that you are here you are forced to read a note from yours truly. Me! Also, I think I might need your help if at all possible.

Okay, if you have tuned in on all the other chapters of Iggy: What No One Knows, you will know very well that Iggy and Rachel are going to this island. Okay, slight problem. What on earth are they going to do when they get there? I don't even know.

Anyway, off my hands and knees and now onto the real note. I really enjoy all my fans out there who have been tuning in and reviewing. That is what makes writing these fanfictions more worthwhile. You rock, dudes. Texas longhorns everyone! (do the word)

I may not get these new chapters of Iggy up as fast as you guys might hope. Sorry to disappoint you, but I do have other fanfictions going on right now too that I have been severely neglecting so if I don't update for a few days or more just nag on me for it and I will try to get another chap up.

If you haven't already, subscribing to story alerts would be the best way to go so that it will e-mail you every time I do post another chapter up.

So guys, I feel so happy having such loyal fans, and I feel like I must do something in return for all of you. Tell me your best fanfiction you have written and I will read it when I have the time to do so. Which is about all the time since I am never doing anything really. Just tell me. I would like to know what you have accomplished as fanfictioners too. Oh yeah. That's right, I went there.

P.S. right now 123cosmo4 invaded my bed and is watching me type every word. Also, our cat Milo is up here taking all my room too. Cosmo wanted me to tell all of you that she is a lonely author in this world who has NO REVIEWS and she desperately wants people to read her story. It is pretty good by the way. ;)

Well, that is about it, Iggy readers. Cosmo wanted me to say that if you don't read her story then she will come after you. (just kidding)

Peace out and don't get arrested!

-Wandu


	11. Chapter 11: Not Alone

Iggy: What No One Knows

Chapter 10: Not Alone

There was a wind that blew heavily from the west, unbalancing Iggy's level flight and sending him careening forward. He flew more downward to escape the winds gathering beneath his wings, and fought to keep going straight ahead.

Iggy didn't really like the wind. He only liked the gentle ones in higher altitudes, not the ones that dominated the land and sky over the sea. What bothered him the most about it was that he could no longer hear anything but the whirring.

"This wind is bad!" Rachel shouted, fighting the winds herself somewhere in front in Iggy's 180 degree screen of blackness.

These winds were not merely carrying the bird kids along, but almost pulling them down, slicing through their feathers and making the flight very clumsy.

"There is a storm following us. That explains it. The air is too dense, and the winds are cold and moist," Iggy explained, half to himself since Rachel probably couldn't hear him anyway.

"Should we land?" she called out.

He used a lot of his strength to surge higher, and tried to move with the wind like a hawk, but that was almost completely impossible since they were everywhere at once in unpredictable turns.

_Landing. Sounds like a good idea. _"Great plan," Iggy argued sarcastically. "And where do you suppose we can do that? We are flying over an ocean!"

"We have been flying for hours. We have to be nearing the island chain. At least I think we should be according to the map. I don't see anything in sight right now. Just and endless expanse of ocean," Rachel reported, sounding doubtful.

_Why can't distances be as short and easy as they are on the map_? Iggy wondered. "This storm isn't getting better. We are just going to have to deal with it until we reach land. And who knows how long _that _will take."

The storm was traveling faster than they were for sure, and in a few minutes time the wind that Iggy was already fighting strengthened, and he was being thrown all over the place, and could hardly even open his wings without being pulled off course. He had to rely on tiny, short flaps, and those were not really efficient for flight endurance.

"There are black clouds behind us. They are coming fast. They weren't back there when I checked a few minutes ago." Rachel sounded worried. "They really don't look pretty."

Being caught in a storm over sea was as worse as it got as far as bird-kid natural disasters went. _If the storm blows us in the sea, we'll be goners_, he thought.

"Maybe we can get off its course by going to the right or left," Rachel suggested.

Iggy breathed in the fresh winds of a brewing storm. This was going to be a typhoon. "Not gonna happen. We are just going to have to keep aloft while you look out for anywhere we can land to wait this out. That or we drown, get struck by lightning, etc."

"That is very optimistic."

"What do you expect? I'm a realist."

The downpour came down, and the wind blew the heavy raindrops on Iggy's wings, getting trapped between the feathers and forcing him to go down. The rain slicked off his wings, but not faster than it was falling and the weight of it all forced him to go down lower. Iggy was blown off course again, and he was beginning to panic now.

"Iggy!"

He turned to where he thought he heard her voice, and attempted to fly over there. His hood was yanked and Rachel kept hold of it. "I'm right here. We have to stay together!"

"Every man for themselves doesn't apply here," Iggy muttered and a big gust blew them down, tumbling head over heels in the direction of the wind, and this time their wings couldn't catch themselves.

"AHHHH!"

They tumbled downward, and Iggy lost earshot of Rachel, and was lost. He went down and couldn't even hear anything to indicate where he was anymore.

Suddenly the wind let up slightly, and Iggy could hear the rustle of leaves being blown on the branches of…trees? That had to mean land! Iggy didn't care where he was. All he knew was that there was land here, and that was all that mattered.

He fanned out his wings and came down to a very clumsy landing, almost falling flat on his face. He felt the ground and felt soft sand, whirring up, making opening his eyes impossible without them being showered with grit. Not that that was a problem or anything.

_Get out of the storm_, Iggy reminded himself and crawled in the shelter of the trees. Trees were not the best way to shelter from a storm, but they would have to do until the storm passed. Then maybe things would start to make sense.

The storm moved on along its way to go terrorize any other place that was unfortunate enough to be in the storm's path. Iggy emerged from his shelter in the trees and walked back out to the shore.

He could hear waves smashing up on rocks, and a gentle breeze that told him where the trees were.

_What would this place…that I assume must be an island, look like if I could see_? Iggy thought. _And another thing: Where is Rachel? She landed here too, right?_

Iggy would have called out to her, but he wasn't even sure if she dropped here, and he wasn't even sure who or what inhabited this island anyway. This could be infested with erasers or something. It was always possible.

_No Rachel, you're lost, and no sense of direction. I guess it could always be worse…_

"Iggy, is that you?"

He had only walked down the beach for a few minutes before he heard Rachel's voice. He couldn't hear her feet sink in the sand and was caught by surprise when she crashed into him.

"Yes, you have the right Iggy," he said coolly and coolly shied back.

"I thought I wouldn't find you. The storm passed. That is good. But where is here?"

"You tell me. You can see," Iggy suggested. "What does it look like?"

Rachel paused a moment and assumed she was studying her surroundings. "The island actually looks pretty uninviting. I thought a deserted island off the coast of nowhere would look a little more like paradise. There are sharp rocks protruding from the ground her and there, and even the trees look dark. There are a lot of vines on the trunks. Looks like we landed in the devil's gullet."

"In that case, I would prefer we keep flying. The only problem is that I lost our sense of direction when the storm hit. We might be going nowhere," Iggy concluded. "Do any patches of water out there look familiar at all?"

"No dice. Why not we take a look around first. Maybe there are people here who can tell us where we are," Rachel suggested optimistically.

Iggy shrugged. "I guess, but why would Island 492 be located anywhere near civilization? It is suppose to be secret. We have to be near it by now," he replied. "But I guess it is our best option." He began to walk forward, but stopped and let Rachel catch up. "Maybe you should lead. This is like eating ice cream on a cold day in my perspective."

Rachel agreed and they walked around the beaches that surrounded the island. In some parts the sand was swallowed up by the tides, and they had to go a little in the trees to get around, but mainly they tried to stay away from the forests. Once they went in there, there was a great chance of getting lost. The sand retained footprints much better.

"This island seems uninhabited. Surely some country owns it, right? Wouldn't that mean there would be people here?"

"We're here."

"I mean islanders."

Iggy was getting bored wandering around. There was nothing here! He was kicking sand as he walked, feeling for interesting things like shells or starfish.

Iggy heard something farther up on shore and stopped to listen. Its footsteps came rather slowly like there were only two feet altogether. It sounded almost human!

"Hey Iggy, I found a hermit crab," Rachel announced.

Iggy could feel the thing stiffen, then race down the beach back toward the trees. "Quick! What is that?"

Hearing the urgency in his voice, Rachel rushed over to take a look for herself. She gasped with surprise. "It just swung in the trees like a monkey, but it looked human!"

"What did it look like?" Iggy pressed impatiently.

"It was a human-like thing, only it walked slightly set forward because its arms are large and lengthy. Then it leaped in the trees! It is small and swift and…and…" She stopped, trying to contain her own excitement. "There is only one explanation."

Iggy finished her sentence for her. "This is Island 492, and this island is inhabited after all. It is full of mutants just like us."


	12. Chapter 12: The Hunters and the Hunted

Iggy: What No One Knows

Chapter 11: The Hunters and the Hunted

Iggy and Rachel whirled around when they heard a foghorn from the sea. It sounded like a boat of some sort.

"A ship? What is it doing here? I thought this island was a secret," Rachel said.

"It could be the whitecoats," he pointed out. "Best whoever is on that boat doesn't know we are here. Find a place where you can see what is going on."

It got closer until Iggy could hear its foghorn go off much louder than before, and Iggy calculated in his mind exactly how far out to sea it was. He couldn't see the ship for certain, but he imagined it was fairly large, and by the sound of it, it was bulky.

_Another thing. It isn't coming near the shore. It is turning away from us. _"We should follow it. Don't let it get away."

Once the ship got a safe distance away Iggy and Rachel ran in pursuit. Being new to the environment, Iggy naturally stumbled on rocks and holes, but he ended up keeping up with Rachel by listening to her footsteps.

"This is a fast ship!" Rachel panted. "I'm not sure how much longer it will go."

Suddenly something leaped about behind them and yanked them both backward. Iggy would have fallen flat if whoever did it hadn't steadied him.

"Hey! What's the big idea? Show yourself so I can attack you! You scared?" He whirled around, searching for the attacker.

"I am not an enemy, you idiot," a sharp voice snapped. "What do you two think you're doing, running after that ship like two dingbats for?"

"To find out where we are. Is that a bad thing?" Rachel countered.

"Here it is. You can't let anyone see you, okay?" Then she suddenly changed tone, sounding more friendly and completely changing the subject. "Hello, I'm Josie. And you two are…"

"Iggy and Rachel," Iggy replied impatiently. "I don't mean to rush you, but when you say we have to stay hidden and trail off, it leaves us at kind of a cliffhanger here."

"All right. I hear you," Josie said.

"You are a mutant like us."

_Where?_ Iggy was instantly curious. _How interesting._

"I see you two are. Why are you surprised?" Josie stopped, then answering her own question, answered, "You two must be new to the island. I still don't see why they would put winged mutants here on the island though…"

"Wow. You look really odd," Rachel commented. "Would you mind describing yourself to my friend here. Iggy can't see."

Iggy couldn't see it, but he could feel her leaning forward with fascination, probably staring in the depths of his sightless eyes, searching for any traces of movement.

"I don't bite."

Josie drew back. "Oh. Of course. Anyway, I am a mix between a howler monkey. That may explain my size. I also have really muscular arms, and I can climb exceptionally well." Then to Iggy she added, "I look weird. There isn't much else to say."

_Geez. It isn't my fault I can't bask in your glow_, Iggy thought sarcastically.

"So are there more hybrids on the island too?" Rachel asked.

"You really must be new. I had no idea you two would be that ignorant. I thought everyone knew at least something about the island. Did you two fall out of the sky or something?"

"Ironic, huh? Turns out we did fall from the sky. A storm blew us here and we had to land," Iggy answered. "Does that answer your question?"

Rachel nudged him slightly, the gesture to stop being rude.

Josie paused, and Iggy felt her tense movements. She was looking around for something. She mustn't have found it for she gave up and gave in to answering Iggy's comment. "So to get this straight, you don't know where you are, correct?"

_There are hybrids like us on the island. This has to be the work of the School_, Iggy concluded. "Is this Island 492?"

"How did you know?" Josie pressed.

"As crazy as it sounds, we were actually looking for this island. Now that we found it, what is going on here?" It seemed that he could never get all his questions answered.

Josie lowered her voice. "Island 492 is a hidden island concealed by the School and some other companies. You don't seem to understand that there is no way off this island. Your wings are an exception, but other than you, no one else has wings. That would defeat the purpose of being brought here in the first place," she explained. "You see, hybrids here are prey. We get the whole island, but we can never be free."

"I don't see any cages. There is one plus," Iggy added.

"It is much worse than that. I was taken here a few months ago. I am lucky to have survived this long. Many others haven't. Here our days are numbered, and we live knowing that each moment could be our last if we aren't careful. Here we are hunted."

"The School hunts their own experiments?" Rachel interrupted with confusion.

"Not exactly. There is a big headquarters by the factory, but it is completely blocked off. It is also where boats and ships come in like the one you two were chasing like a dog after a Frisbee. Don't try to be seen here. Being seen can make a difference between life and death. The School releases experiments to replace the ones that are killed. You see, people pay to hunt hybrids. The School gets millions of dollars off this program, and they find it efficient to…disposing of useless experiments. It is awful."

"Really? That is insane!" Rachel exclaimed, unable to keep her angry outburst down to optimal levels. "What cruel typewads would do something like that? You all are hunted like animals?"

Josie nodded sadly. "We would escape if we could, but how can we? We are on an island with water on all sides. The swim is impossible. It is not like we can fly away from the island. We are forced to play this awful game. So, why did you wan to find the island anyway? I am sure you aren't here to play tourist."

Iggy was getting bored in sitting in silence and leaped in to answer her question. "We were at the School facility in Death Valley, and found some files underneath the School. They mentioned an Island 492 in the files, and we assumed there was some secret undercover work going on here. Unfortunately we were right."

Josie circled around them, and Iggy paid close attention to where she was, keeping alert for ambush, catastrophe, or anything else. "Now that you are here, can you help us? There must be something you can do. After all, you have wings. Very nice by the way."

"Well, let's consider our options. We are on a dangerous island owned by the School. They release their trash here to be hunted by crazies paying millions of dollars just to hunt us and take us home for a souveneir. It all sounds so fascinating," Iggy mentioned sarcastically.

"Does that mean you are going to help us?" Josie asked desperately.

"Of course. We are alike. We have to help eachother, don't we? The School needs to go down, and we all have to do it together." Iggy felt embarrassed by giving such a courageous, hope-filled speech. "So us dudes will stay and see what we can do." That sounded a little better.

"Did you miss the memo that we are being _hunted_ if we stay here?" Rachel whispered so Josie couldn't hear.

"I'm not deaf as well as blind. Of course I heard that. We don't have much of a choice though, do we? After coming all this way, we can't just walk away and leave thousands of experiments like us to be hunted here?" Iggy objected accusingly.

"When you put it that way…"

Josie's happiness and hope filled the air. "I know we can find something to do. I think you are here to help us. I will try to find more of the experiments on the island to meet you."

"You aren't all together?" Rachel asked.

"Too dangerous," Josie answered. "The best chance we have of not being found is to strike it out on our own, but I am sure I can find a few of them around here somewhere. We had better move anyway. Here we can't stay in one place too long. Let's go."

That last statement made the situation sound a whole lot better.


	13. Chapter 13: Planning the Impossible

Iggy: What No One Knows

Chapter 12:

Iggy didn't process a lot of what was going on, but after awhile Josie found some other hybrids on the island and brought them together. All of them gathered somewhere, deeper in the forest Iggy guessed. The air was cool like they were out of the sunlight, and the sounds of more activity made the area livelier.

"They are staring at us odd," Rachel told him.

"I get that a lot anyway," he muttered.

Josie urged the two she found forward. "Come on. They are still like us, they are just not from this island. Hopefully, they can help us. Their wings are a big advantage," she announced, still sounding hopeful in that way that made Iggy hate to disappoint.

"Wow. You can fly?" came the reply of one of them, sounding young kind of like Angel.

"These wings aren't for fashion," Rachel answered.

Iggy heard the two of them dash away, and he assumed Josie sent them to spread the word of their arrival on the island. But he was wrong.

Josie tensed up, and the poor blind bird-kid sensed the tension in the air. "Something is wrong. I can feel it," she whispered. "Get down."

Then Iggy heard it. It almost sounded like the clicking of a rifle barrel before the beholder of it would take aim.

"They spotted us. Move!" Iggy shouted and ran forward literally blindly. He didn't care where he was going; he just had to get out of there.

The deafening shot of a gun echoed around him. It echoed for at least a second with a pinging sound, meaning it missed whoever it was it was aimed at. The three of them were out of sight for now, but they had to scatter.

Iggy heard where Rachel and Josie went. While he darted to the left, they went the complete opposite direction and went to the right. _Leave the blind mole to fend off the bad guys alone, will they_? They were about a hundred yards away and still running.

He ran to find them, stealthily and silently as he could. Iggy actually had to run with his hands extended in front of him like a sleepwalker so as not to hit anything hard and give away his position. He came across many saplings and vines, and felt his way around them expertly.

"Iggy, over here."

Rachel.

He wasn't sure where her voice came from, but when she spoke again he was able to find her exact location and stopped by her feet, hearing her heavy panting from the mad dash for their lives.

"Are we being followed?" Josie asked us anxiously.

Iggy liked being relied on in a situation in which he felt so helpless. He did what he had always done his whole life and listened intently to his surroundings. As far as he could hear, there was nothing. It was almost like a normal island without genetic mistakes being hunted here by psychopaths. Yep, almost normal. "All clear. We lost them."

"They will be back. It is scary knowing they could be anywhere, watching us."

"You weren't kidding. That was terrifying!" Rachel gasped. "I can't imagine how that must feel everyday. If that guy wasn't holding a lethal weapon, I would have given him a real Avian-American welcome."

"Now do you see why we need your help? This will keep continuing and you can help us. We have to do something about this."

"Do you have a plan?" Iggy countered.

"We can fly back to the mainland and get the authorities," Rachel suggested. "Wait a minute. Never mind. The police would never believe two kids who spin a story about a billion dollar corporation hidden on a secret island who-knows-where. Sounds pretty silly when you put it that way."

Josie sighed. "I wish it could be as easy as that. Maybe there is an easier way."

"Maybe we don't have to go so far to find what we're looking for. What about on the island? What is here besides a scenic view?" _A giant headquarters building, or even a giant ship big enough to get every hybrid off the island…_

"Shucks, I haven't been across the whole thing. This place is pretty big on the inside," Josie said. "I am sure there would have to be something somewhere, I guess. There has to be somewhere the ships come and load experiments and the special guests here to sample them. No one is crazy enough to follow a ship around here unless you want to commit suicide."

"That gives us something to work with," Iggy added optimistically. "If we know what we are against, then it will be easier to find a solution."

"Know your enemy as well as you know yourself. I have heard that one before. The problem is, where are we going to find that?"

_That doesn't even deserve a duh. _"Wings?" he countered and unfurled them slightly. "We can fly across the whole island in no time flat."

"Oh yeah; I forgot. You two can see everything from up there."

"I can see my highly-developed sense of irony," Iggy retorted sarcastically.

"Whatever," Josie concluded. "Well, not to be pushy or anything but you saw what almost happened to us. You should leave as soon as possible and tell me what is there."

_No, how could sending us off on a deadly mission in which we most likely will never return possibly sound pushy? _Iggy thought.

"We will be back as soon as we can," Rachel promised. "Just tell us where you will be and we will come back to meet you there."

"Just meet me back where I first found you. That sounds simple enough."

_That is about two-hundred or so steps back the way we came. _

Josie didn't follow them as they went back to the beach for take-off. With all the pliant tree branches and leaves in the way, it made it impossible to get out of there.

"Iggy?"

To the sound of Rachel's voice, Iggy said, "What?"

"I was just wondering something." She kept a few steps ahead of him, marking a clear path. "Do you think this is fun?"

"_Fun_? Yeah, it is like a carnival," he answered and had to weave around some vine thing snaking across the sand.

"I mean is it kind of fun just getting away from the flock for awhile to save the world. Isn't it kind of exciting getting out of the routine to do something like this together?"

"I don't know what you are getting at. In my opinion, more routine life would be nice for once. I don't know how much more of this saving-the-world stuff I can take."

"Okay, I was just wondering." By the reluctance in her voice, Iggy wondered if there was something more she wanted from him than that.

Rachel stopped for a moment. "There is a fog. Maybe the storm isn't over yet. That is pretty good. It can disguise us even when we fly low."

Iggy stepped out in the open and gleefully stretched out his fourteen foot powerful wings, feeling their grayness as they passed by his hand. "I thought of an idea."

"Let me hear it," Rachel insisted.

"Maybe we don't have to do Mission Impossible like we did back there at the School. We probably don't need to get anywhere near the headquarters actually. Seriously, what do we plan on doing once we get there anyway? Sabotage, larceny? There has to be a better way to help these hybrids," Iggy pointed out. "What if we found a ship along the coast here. All we have to do is smuggle a few of them with us, turn them in to the authorities as living, breathing proof that the island exists, and then they will have to come here and check it out."

Iggy waited in silence as Rachel pondered over his idea. "It sounds better than a heroic stunt, but there is just one little problem? Ships are big, really big, and we have zero ideas on how to steer one. We would never get anywhere."

"Since when have we had a plan? Let's just wing it and see how it goes. We will never know if we don't try. I plunged up over my head in a bunch of situations like this in my lifetime and I have always managed to get out alive without a clue on what the heck I'm doing. This is no different. Just trust me on this," he said persistently. _Of all your crazy ideas, Iggy._

"That is the thing; I do trust you, and I think the idea is sensible. Maybe if we can find a smaller boat here like the Wendy K for example, then we can get out of here."

Iggy remembered telling her about their Antarctic adventure on their flight to the School, and nodded. "It couldn't be that hard. So are you in?"

"It takes two to end life as we know it, and you are not doing it without me."

"Good," Iggy said, "because someone needs to have eyes to get us out of here alive."_  
_


End file.
